यद्यपि शरणापत्त्यैव सर्वं सिध्यति, ‘शरणं तं प्रपन्ना ये ध्यानयोगविवर्जिताः । ते वै मृत्युमतिक्रम्य यान्ति तद्वैष्णवं पदम् ॥’ इति गारुडात्, तथापि वैशिष्ट्यलिप्सुः शक्तश्चेत्ततो भगवच्छास्त्रोपदेष्टॄणां भगवन्मन्त्रोपदेष्टॄणां वा श्रीगुरुचरणानां नित्यमेव विशेषतः सेवां कुर्यात् । तत्प्रसादो हि स्वस्वनानाप्रतीकारदुस्त्यजानर्थहानौ परमभगवत्प्रसादसिद्धौ च मूलम् ।
yadyapi śaraṇāpattyaiva sarvaṁ sidhyati, ‘śaraṇaṁ taṁ prapannā ye dhyāna-yoga-vivarjitāḥ | te vai mṛtyum atikramya yānti tad vaiṣṇavaṁ padam ||’ iti gāruḍāt, tathāpi vaiśiṣṭya-lipsuḥ śaktaś cet tato bhagavac-chāstropadeṣṭṝṇāṁ bhagavan-mantropadeṣṭṝṇāṁ vā śrī-guru-caraṇānāṁ nityam eva viśeṣataḥ sevāṁ kuryāt | tat-prasādo hi sva-sva-nānā-pratīkāra-dustyajānartha-hānau parama-bhagavat-prasāda-siddhau ca mūlam |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 237)
“Although everything is accomplished just by śaraṇāgati, as per [this statement in] Garuḍa Purāṇa, ‘Those who have forsaken meditation and yoga and taken shelter in him [i.e., Śrī Bhagavān] certainly overcome death and reach that abode of Viṣṇu,’ still if one is desirous of specificity [i.e., a specific form of prema and relationship with a specific form of Śrī Bhagavān] and able [to pursue such], then one should perform service fixedly and specifically of the feet of a blessed guru who is a teacher of śāstras related to Bhagavān or a teacher of a mantra related to Bhagavān, since his grace is the root cause of the removal of defilements (anarthas) that are difficult to give up by various counter-measures of one’s own and of the attainment of the supreme grace of Bhagavān.”